By Vivienne Russell | 1 May 2014
Significant funds need to be poured into the NHS to avert a looming financial crisis, but must not be used to prop up unsustainable services, the King’s Fund said today.
A report on NHS productivity issued by the independent think-tank said a financial crisis in the health service was now inevitable by 2015/16. It warned that many ways of holding down costs, such as pay freezes and management cuts, had been almost exhausted.
However, the King’s Fund suggested there was still scope to improve efficiency in other areas, such as procurement and clinical practice. Greater efforts needed to be made to collate and disseminate good practice in improving efficiency, and stronger regional leadership was needed to plan and implement changes to services.
While new funds were needed, the King’s Fund warned they should not be spent on services that could not be sustained. Instead, the money should be used for two distinct purposes: the establishment of a health and social care transformation fund to meet the costs of service changes and invest in the development of new models of care outside hospital settings; and emergency funding to provide temporary support for otherwise sound NHS organisations that are struggling with budget pressures.
John Appleby, chief economist at the King’s Fund and lead author of the report, said: ‘There is still scope to improve efficiency in the health service, and efforts to release savings should be redoubled.
‘However, it is now a question of when, no if, the NHS runs out of money. Without significant additional funding, this will lead to rising waiting times, cuts in staff and deteriorating quality of care.
‘It is essential that politicians from all parties are honest about the scale of the financial pressures facing the NHS and initiate a public debate about the long-term sustainability of the health and social care system before, not after, the general election.’
